Loyola Sullivan

Canadian politician (born 1949)

Loyola Sullivan (born April 3, 1949) served as Canada's Ambassador for Fisheries Conservation from 2007 until 2011 and is a former Member of the House of Assembly in Newfoundland and Labrador. Sullivan represented the district of Ferryland from 1992 till 2006. Sullivan was Leader of the Official Opposition between 1996 and 1998. When the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party came to power in 2003 he was appointed by Premier Danny Williams as the Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board and later as the Government House Leader.

Loyola Sullivan was born on April 3, 1949, in Calvert, Newfoundland on the Southern Shore of the island of Newfoundland. Sullivan is the son of a fisherman and one of 12 children, who learned from an early age the importance of hard work; he started working summers in the local fish plant when he was 13 years old. He received his primary and elementary education in Calvert and attended high school in Ferryland where he graduated with honours at the top of his class. Sullivan attended Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) where he obtained Bachelor of Science degree in 1971 and Bachelor of Education degree in 1974. From 1996 to 1998, he served as Leader of the Official Opposition and interim leader of the Progressivce Conservatives, taking over for Lynn Verge who had lost her seat in the 1996 general election. In that role, he led the negotiations for the 2005 Atlantic Accord and successfully secured the $2 billion agreement for the province. In 2006 he also took on the responsibility as Government House Leader, he served in both these roles till he retired from provincial politics in December 2006. The next month on January 25, 2007, Sullivan was appointed by the federal Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Fisheries and Oceans as Ambassador for Fisheries Conservation by the Government of Canada. On May 2, Sullivan placed third receiving 8,576 votes.